


three to five business days

by hiya_zelda (hiya_girlie)



Series: three to five business days (mailman!link au) [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Mutual Pining, Pining, Please don’t take this seriously, Romantic Comedy (i guess lol), Slow Burn, mailman!Link, the inherent eroticism of package delivery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26086984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiya_girlie/pseuds/hiya_zelda
Summary: When a young and attractive delivery man shows up on Zelda’s doorstep instead of the crusty old guys that usually deliver her mail, it doesn’t take long for her to realize that romance is only three to five business days away.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: three to five business days (mailman!link au) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2136120
Comments: 62
Kudos: 183





	1. a package for miss nohansen

**Author's Note:**

> All art included in this story is my own! (Apologies in advance for mobile users)
> 
> Check me out on Instagram! @hygirl_does_art
> 
> Check me out on Twitter now!  
> @highafgirl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What are you supposed to do when a hot guy delivers your mail?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE ART IS BEING BUGGY SO THAT SUCKS but i will try and fix it soon plz be patient
> 
> Update, art is removed until i can figure this out... so sad.

Zelda was in the middle of doing her nails at her kitchen island when the doorbell rang. The loud chime was so unexpected she nearly tipped the bottle of white polish over onto the tabletop, and goddesses knew how much of a hassle it would have been to clean that up. She’d been so focused on her nails that she hadn’t given anything else much thought, not even her incessantly buzzing cell phone flashing with text notifications every three seconds.

Quickly she put the brush back in the bottle and screwed it shut, careful to avoid messing up the few nails she had painted. She really should have gone to a salon to get them done, as her nail painting skills left much to be desired, but between work and everything else going on lately, her schedule was jam packed, so she was stuck with digging through her bathroom drawers to find a suitable color and doing them herself. She barely had time to do them today, but seeing as how the dinner was literally in an hour, she’d make it work.

Not that it mattered, really, because no one would be staring at her nails the whole night, but she felt better with a completed outfit. Accessorizing could make or break an outfit, something she’d learned the hard way. And she didn’t like looking at her bland nails.

The doorbell rang again, prompting her to jump up from her seat and hurry through the living room to the front door. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” she muttered under her breath. “I heard you the first time.”

Discreetly shaking the hand with the wet polish at her side so it would dry faster, she pulled open the front door and plastered on what she hoped was a friendly smile to greet her unexpected visitor. If it was another salesman ignoring her very obvious no-soliciting sign again, she was going to scream.

Thankfully no salesman. Standing on her front porch was a delivery man. But surprisingly not the frumpy looking, middle aged delivery men old enough to be her father that usually delivered her mail. Instead the delivery guy was a young man about her own age, somewhere in his early to mid twenties at the most. 

She was taken aback by this startling new development. Since when did the postal company hire younger men?

She gave him a quick once over that was definitely not dangerously skirting the line between idle curiosity and checking out. He had an unruly mop of golden blond hair that was practically floating in the spring afternoon breeze, catching the light and sparkling like it was a piece of expensive jewelry in a magazine. His sky blue eyes scrutinized the cereal-box-sized cardboard package in his left hand and the plain clipboard in his right hand with the same level of focus she’d just been giving her nails, his eyebrows furrowed intently and lips pursed in concentration. He was whistling softly as well, to the tune of a song she’d heard on the radio recently, one with lyrics along the lines of “Why’d you leave me Karen what did I do” that was popular lately.

She almost wished he was a crusty old guy instead, so she wouldn’t have this sudden nervousness overtake her. It wasn’t everyday that attractive strangers showed up on her doorstep—well, actually, it never happened. Guys that looked like that were either athletes or musicians. How in Nayru’s name had this one ended up in the boring and frankly quite ugly black uniform of the Hyrulean United Postal Service?

(Though, she did have to admit that the uniform, while usually hiding pot bellies and ridiculously hairy legs, looked surprisingly good on him, complementing his thin frame that she was _not_ hoping had some toned muscle on it. And, she decided, black was a good color for him.)

He stopped whistling when he heard the door open, his ear twitching slightly at the sound, and looked up from the clipboard to look at her. She caught a second when he hesitated as if unsure of what he was seeing, but he had clearly worked in customer service long enough to be in complete control of his facial expressions because before she could blink he was flashing her a near blinding customer service smile, one that was definitely illegal for postal workers to have since it might just give her a heart attack.

“Hi,” Zelda started after she took a second to breathe, unsure of what she was feeling in the pit of her stomach but being suspicious of it regardless. She hoped he hadn’t noticed her staring. “How can I help you?”

“I’ve got a package here for a Miss Nohansen?” He said, eyes briefly flitting downward to double check the name neatly printed on the front of the box before popping back up to look at her. His voice had a bit of a southern drawl in it, the kind that made her think of farmers and cowboys. Cute enough, she supposed, though it was a bit on the boyish side.

Right, her package. She’d been so interested in him that she forgot about the brown box in his hands, something she’d been looking forward to since she’d ordered it; a couple of books that Midna had recommended to her. “Yes, that’s me,” she said quickly. 

“Awesome,” he said, a hint of relief in his voice, holding out the package to her. “For a second I was worried I’d gone to the wrong house again. First day on the job, y’know how it is.”

So he was new to the postal service. That would explain why she’d never seen him before. She tucked that piece of info away and reached out with her non-drying hand to take the package from him. The box was heavier than expected, and she nearly dropped it trying to one hand it.

“Whoa there,” he chuckled as she took hold of it with both hands, still being careful with her drying nails, “careful now. It’s heavier than it looks.”

Her cheeks felt warm hearing his gentle laugh. Something about the rough yet lilting sound made her heart do jumping jacks. His accent was growing on her a lot quicker than she’d care to admit. “You could have told me that before you handed it to me,” she said dryly, carefully tucking the package under her arm.

His eyebrows quirked upwards in a playful gesture she might have mistaken as flirtatious if he hadn't been in uniform. “Got distracted,” he said with an easy shrug, passing her the clipboard for her to sign. “It ain’t everyday someone gets all dolled up just for little ol’ me.”

His poorly disguised compliment caught Zelda so off guard that her hand slipped while she was writing and she botched her signature, her neat cursive melting into illegible chicken scratch at the end of her last name. Was he… _flirting_ with her?

She looked at her outfit with a mixture of confusion and growing embarrassment. The short sleeved purple and white dress was far from the fanciest thing she owned, but still nice enough that she wouldn’t wear it around the house. Not to mention it was still weird to show up at someone’s house unexpectedly and find them in something fancy, hence his quip about her appearance. So it was safe to assume that he was not flirting with her and not checking her out. She was 100% certain of that.

She glanced up at him. He resumed his lazy whistling, his hands idly drumming against his thighs while he waited for her to finish. From anyone else the gesture might seem childish, but she found it rather endearing. He noticed her watching him, not noticing her ruined signature, and gave her another smile as if to say “Take your time, I don’t mind”, and whether that meant her writing or her staring, she didn’t know.

Ok, so, 99% certain.

She wordlessly passed the clipboard back to him, not trusting herself to speak. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to flirt with him, because he was attractive, she just… it was kind of weird flirting with a guy who wore a uniform that she used to find extremely unsexy. It was like being in college, going to a bar and getting wasted, then drunkenly hitting on the professor whose class you had the next day. Not the most comfortable feeling.

They stood in awkward silence for a few seconds. She opened her mouth and closed it, searching for something to say but finding nothing. Finally the delivery guy cleared his throat, breaking the silence, and flashed her another smile.

“Well, you have a nice day now,” he said, and if he was wearing a hat she suspected he might have tipped it to her. “Take care.”

“Thank you,” she called as he walked away from her doorstep, back to the delivery truck parked in front of her driveway. 

Zelda watched him pull away and drive down the street, then forced her feet to carry her back inside. 

She leaned against the front door and exhaled slowly, trying to calm her pounding heart. As much as she would have loved to dwell on what just happened, sheneeded to finish her nails, and with that interruption she now had even less time to get ready. She set the package on the table and took her seat at the island again, absently uncapping the polish bottle and trying to keep her hand steady as she worked. 

Her heart was still pounding in her chest, and even though the delivery man was long gone her face burned thinking about him. Was she crushing on her _mailman_ of all people? Not the playful barista at her favorite coffee shop, not her coworker who commented on her hairdo everyday, not the guy she’d caught staring at her at the bar last Saturday.

The goddess damned _mailman._

Her hand slipped and she ended up with a streak of white polish down her ring finger. She sighed, reaching for the bottle of nail polish remover. The strong smell blasted her nose, and she was quick to mop up the spilled polish with a cotton ball before attempting that nail again. 

_“It ain’t everyday someone gets all dolled up just for little ol’ me.”_ She hadn’t heard a pick up line that smooth or anything remotely close to it in ages. Damn. Flirting didn’t sound like something they taught postal workers. Was the postal service just hiding a secret supply of attractive, flirty delivery people all this time and she’d never known?

Absently, she wondered if there was anything else she needed to order.


	2. add to (heart) cart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She’s determined to get one more chance to flirt with this guy, even if it means grasping at straws to do so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so sorry i cant work the picture editing ;_; turns out im not the most technologically inclined person ever. Here’s a link to the art that was going to be included last chapter: https://twitter.com/highafgirl/status/1298021529381269505?s=21  
> link to chapter two’s art!  
> https://twitter.com/highafgirl/status/1302051315510509568?s=21  
> pop over and say hi if ya want

Zelda stared intently at the screen in front of her, a slice of Hawaiian pizza in one hand and keyboard clicking lazily underneath her other hand. Amazon was open on the browser in front of her, its homepage drawing her in with advertisements for products she’d been eyeing recently. 

She probably had better things to do with a Friday evening than scroll through Amazon. This was a rare night where she wasn’t stuck in her office building until after nine, able to come home and relax for once, and she was squandering it away doing menial online shopping. Midna would be laughing her head off if she knew.

She moved the mouse to hover over the X button, but still she hesitated to close out of Amazon entirely. There wasn’t anything in particular she was looking for or even needed. She’d just opened the page to browse mindlessly while she ate her pizza. If she didn’t need anything, then there was no point in dangling the temptation to order in front of herself, so she should be a responsible adult and close the tab and not order useless junk. 

Her mind drifted back to the cute delivery guy from last week. Guys like that didn’t just fall from the sky. If she was ever going to see him again and shoot her shot, then she’d need to order something. 

She reached for her phone and used her free hand that wasn’t covered in pizza grease to unlock it and get to the messaging app. Midna’s number was at the top, easily accessible. It was unlikely that Midna would need anything (she complained all the time about how ordering online was never as good as going to a real store), but Zelda was getting desperate for an excuse to buy something.

 _Hey, do you need anything from amazon?_ Zelda typed, careful not to drop her phone as she maneuvered her thumb across the screen. _Im ordering stuff rn and thought Id ask._

Midna’s reply came back a few seconds later. _Nah I think Im good. Thx tho_

_Alright, just checking._

Zelda leaned back in her chair with a sigh and set her phone down, turning back to her computer screen. So Midna didn’t need anything. There went her only valid reason to order anything. It really was childish of her to want to order something just on the off chance that the cute delivery guy might show up again. She needed to close out of Amazon, and do something fun with the precious Friday night she’d never get again. Delivery guy was cute and friendly, but there were plenty of other people out there. He wasn’t the only fish in the sea.

But for some reason the thought of never seeing him again made her sad, like she was missing out on a great opportunity. She wanted to at least get to know him a little better before saying sayonara entirely. If he turned out to be a jerk, she’d move on. But if he was as adorable as he’d been delivering her package…

She finished off her pizza slice and licked the grease off her fingers before turning back to her computer. She had been going through her protein shakes at a faster pace than normal lately, since work had been stressful lately and her usual way of dealing with the stress was a good late night workout. She navigated to the sports nutrition section and added two twelve packs of her favorite brand to her cart. 

Her hands idled over the keyboard, then she typed “puzzles” into the search bar. She hadn’t done a good puzzle in ages, and the ones sitting in her hallway closet were missing pieces from the times she and Midna had been a little drunk putting them away. Pictures of idyllic landscapes and famous artworks plastered the puzzle boxes, everything from tropical beach sides to breathtaking mountain top views. She scrolled through thousand piece puzzles until she found one she liked, a picture of a quaint riverside cottage surrounded by a dense forest, with the rising sun in the background, and she added it to her cart.

Protein shakes and a thousand piece puzzle. She waffled for a moment, unable to make up her mind if she wanted anything else. Then she shrugged and hit proceed to checkout. With any luck, her order would arrive in a few days, so that gave her a few days to come up with a good plan on how to get the delivery guy’s number.

Zelda closed out of Amazon and grabbed her phone, texting Midna again. _Hey you busy tonight?_

 _Nope,_ Midna replied. _My date cancelled literally ten minutes before I was going to leave >:( I was in the middle of doing my makeup and she texted and said “Hey I had something come up I wont be able to make it” like GIRL YOU COULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING EARLIER!!! So now Im sitting in my house wearing fancy makeup for no reason. My dog keeps not recognizing me. Argh _

_Wanna come over?_ Zelda asked.

_Sure, I can be over in like half an hour. See ya then._

_Alright. See you then!_

——

“So what were you ordering earlier?” Midna asked between handfuls of popcorn. They were flopped out on Zelda’s couch, a giant bowl of popcorn on the cushion between them while the TV played in the background. Despite both wanting to watch the movie, neither were paying attention to it, and they had turned down the volume and were now talking over it instead.

Zelda shrugged. “I needed more protein shakes, and I wanted a new puzzle too,” she said. “Nothing too interesting.”

Midna perked up at the mention of puzzles. “Ooh a new puzzle, what’s it look like?” She asked. “Don’t tell me it’s one of those dumb office supplies ones again.”

Zelda rolled her eyes. “Even if it was, you’d still pester me about doing it together,” she said, poking Midna’s side and prompting her to drop popcorn on the carpet. “No, it’s not office supplies, it’s a scene of a forest cottage. It’s really pretty. Makes me want to sell my house and move to the woods.”

“Hah, as if,” Midna snorted, bending over to scoop the popcorn off the floor. She popped it in her mouth, to which Zelda made a face. 

“Mid, that’s gross, just throw it away.”

“That would waste perfectly good popcorn. Besides, your carpet is basically spotless. I don’t think I’ll die.”

Zelda let out a long-suffering sigh. “If you do get sick, I’m going to die laughing.”

“Whatever,” Midna said. “Anyway, you know you like your AC and internet too much to move to the woods. Not to mention you hate bugs, and the woods are crawling with them.”

Zelda huffed. “I know that, it’s just fun to think about doing something drastic like that. You know, something that would turn my life upside down, but in a good way.”

Midna gave her a flat look, her trademarked _What manner of BS is this_ look that made her look like a high school principal. “Oh, so you’ll pack up and move to a dinky cottage in the woods to ‘turn your life upside down’, but you won’t go on second dates with people no matter how much you liked them?”

Zelda groaned. She should have known her dating life would come up sooner or later; Midna loved poking and prodding her for any new developments on crushes and dates. Though she loved Midna like a sister, it was kind of annoying having her constantly fuss over her love life. “It’s not like that,” she argued weakly. “I’m just busy. I don’t have time for a lot of dates.”

“And I’m as straight as a ruler.” Midna pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “What about that barista? She was cute, wasn’t she? Did you ever get her number?”

Zelda fidgeted with her hands, too embarrassed to look at Midna. “She’s not really my type.”

“Then who is?” Midna said, exasperated. “I’ve known you for years, Zel, and I still don’t know what ‘your type’ is.”

“Mail delivery people?” Zelda said before she could stop herself.

Midna nearly spewed popcorn out of her mouth, and Zelda instantly regretted confessing to that. Midna’s gaze leveled on her and she wanted to shrink into the couch or hide underneath a blanket. This was going to be the interrogation of a lifetime.

“ _Mail delivery people?_ ” Midna asked, her voice rising with each word. “ _What?!_ ”

Zelda’s face turned bright red. She was mortified. She had not meant to say that out loud. She floundered for what to say. “Wait, it’s not—“

She was cut off by a howl of laughter from Midna. Midna doubled over, holding her stomach and gasping for air as she bursted into hearty laughter. She almost knocked over the popcorn bowl. “The old guys with beer bellies and scruffy beards?” She asked, unable to keep back her grin. “The ones that are old enough to be your grandpa? Zelda, dear, I say this with all the love of a best friend: that’s disgusting!”

“Let me explain!” Zelda said, resisting the urge to bury her face in her hands. Midna let out a few more chuckles before sobering and facing her. Nervously, Zelda swallowed and started, “The guy who delivered a package to me last week was young, probably not much older than I am. I meant that he specifically was cute, not the general mail carrier populace!”

Midna’s eyes widened, then her teasing grin morphed into a devilish smirk. Zelda felt a thrill of panic at the sight. “Oh my god,” Midna said, shaking her head. “I can’t believe this. A _mailman._ ”

“It’s stupid,” Zelda said before Midna could finish her statement, “I know, I know. I spoke to him for maybe five minutes, and now I’m hopelessly crushing on him. I’m nothing more than an enthusiastic schoolgirl. I get it, it’s childish and I should get over it.”

Midna looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “No, I was going to tell you to shoot your shot,” she said. “You’ve finally found someone you want to pursue. You think I’m gonna tell you not to?”

Zelda blinked. That wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting. “Wait, what?”

“Look,” Midna said, staring at her intensely, “we’ve been friends for years, and not once in that time have you confessed to actually crushing on someone. You always say, ‘oh, he’s nice enough, I’ll give him a shot’, or ‘she asked me on a date, I guess I’ll go out with her’. You never make the first move, but now you want to. I’m happy for you.”

Zelda let out a long sigh. “Oh, thank the goddesses, I thought you were going to chew me out.”

Midna punched her arm lightly. “I would tease you since he’s a mailman and all, but I can’t really say anything because I’ve dated worse. But back to this mail guy of yours. What’s he like?”

“I only spoke to him for a few minutes,” Zelda said, thinking back to the chance encounter, “but he seemed nice. He had a southern accent, and he mentioned that it was his first day on the job, so he likely moved here recently.”

“Does mail guy have a name?”

Zelda shook her head. “I didn’t ask his name.”

Midna groaned. “Goddesses, girl, that’s rule number one of flirting, always ask their name.”

“We weren’t flirting!” Zelda said quickly, and she caught Midna rolling her eyes. “Well, I don’t know. He complimented my outfit, but you can compliment someone without flirting with them.”

“What were you wearing?”

“That cute purple and white dress you helped me pick out. I was getting ready for my company dinner party last week and he caught me in the middle of doing my nails.”

“It is a cute dress,” Midna agreed. “But are you certain he wasn’t flirting with you?”

Zelda threw her arms in the air. “I’m terrible at figuring that out. It didn’t help that he kept smiling at me, and goddesses, his smile almost turned me into a puddle. Maybe he’s just overly friendly and smiles at everyone, I don’t know.”

“You just need to see him again,” Midna reasoned. “First impressions are more often wrong than not.”

“I know, I know. That’s why I was ordering stuff earlier.”

Midna grinned. “Honestly, I’m surprised you waited this long. I would have ordered something that day.”

Zelda rolled her eyes. “I’m not that desperate. Besides I kept thinking that it was stupid. Now that I have your approval I feel less silly about it.”

“Do you have a plan for when you see him again?”

“Well, if I see him again,” Zelda said, her voice uncertain. “He’s probably not my official delivery person.”

Midna poked her. “Don’t be a downer,” she scolded. “You’re gonna see him again. So what’s your plan?”

Zelda took a deep breath and spoke up before she could regret it. “I was hoping you’d help me come up with something.”

Midna grinned and rubbed her hands together. “Alright! Operation Cute Delivery Guy is go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always thanks for reading
> 
> and dont eat popcorn off the floor thats gross


	3. the worst possible timing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zelda wakes up with an unexpected sickness on the day her package is going to be delivered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, check out the art for this story on my instagram @hygirl_does_art and my Twitter @highafgirl I’d love to chat!

Zelda tracked her package like a hawk. Every morning she got up, every break she got at work, and every night before bed she opened the Amazon app on her phone and checked the progress. Excitement swirled in her chest whenever she got a notification with an update. 

She looked forward to getting the package, specifically the puzzle because she and Midna had planned out a movie marathon to watch while they did the puzzle. But she was more excited about getting another chance to see the delivery guy again. 

She and Midna had spent hours going over the plan to get the delivery guy’s number. Zelda could recite her pickup lines without hesitation, nothing too cheesy or obvious but still worded in a way that could be seen as flirty. She’d throw in a few playful looks here and there for good measure. Midna recommended getting dressed up, “gorgeous, but not like you’re trying” and Zelda had planned the perfect outfit out the next day. All she needed to do now was wait.

——

Zelda’s 5:30 a.m. alarm went off with an ear splitting blaring. She groaned, muffling the noise by sandwiching her head between two pillows, and fumbled around blindly on her night stand to hit the snooze button. Was it morning already? 

Goddesses, she felt like she’d been run over by a swarm of cuccos. Her throat was drier than the Gerudo Desert, her head was pounding, and despite being under layers of blankets she was sweating. She rubbed her eyes and forced herself to sit up, then fell back onto the pillows when her vision swam. Seeing that much black probably wasn’t healthy.

She shut her eyes and promptly fell back asleep until her alarm went off again. The temptation to hit the snooze button again and go back to sleep was overwhelming, but if she lazed around any longer she’d be late for work. She was the only one in the office who had never been late before, and she’d never live it down if she did.

She tried to sit up again and ignored the static in her vision, pushing off the blankets and turning off her alarm. With a half yawn half moan, she moved to her dresser to get changed, swapping her warm pajamas for a crisp dress shirt and slacks. She had a hard time concentrating on doing the buttons on her shirt, her hands and mind refusing to cooperate even though she’d been through this routine dozens of times before. 

Finally Zelda got her shirt buttoned and went to the kitchen. Her legs were noticeably unsteady, but she pushed that to the back of her mind while she dug through her fridge for breakfast. She didn’t have a lot of time now, so whatever she wanted to eat she’d have to do it during the commute to the office. 

A sudden wave of nausea swept over her. Whatever appetite she’d had was gone and replaced by a strong queasiness. Not a problem, she was used to her morning nausea by now; she’d just pack an extra big lunch to make up for it. She grabbed some things from the fridge and tossed them into her lunch bag, but the strong smells coming from the food made her pause as her stomach churned.

_ Okay,  _ she thought,  _ so I’m feeling a little tired and I might have a stomach ache. That’s not really a reasonable excuse to skip work. I’ll just take some Ibuprofen and go to work. Hopefully it’ll settle down and I’ll feel better. _

She nodded to herself, satisfied with her reasoning, and retrieved the bottle of Ibuprofen. After taking two, she finished packing her lunch and hurried to the bathroom do her hair and makeup.

Seeing her reflection in the mirror was like a slap to the face. Zelda hadn’t realized she was so pale. Her skin was tinged with a bit of green as well, not to mention the faint bags under her eyes from a poor night’s sleep were prominent. No wonder she felt terrible, looking like that.

After staring at herself for a moment, she decided to text her boss and let them know she wasn’t coming in today.  _ Take care _ was all they said in reply. She didn’t even bother changing out of her work clothes before she gratefully climbed back into bed and fell asleep.

——

It was just past one when Zelda woke up. The Ibuprofen had helped a little, calming down her headache so that it wasn’t quite as obnoxious. Some color had returned to her cheeks. When she felt her forehead, it was still warm but not too noticeable, and her queasiness had settled down where she could eat little spoonfuls of yogurt. Midna had texted at noon during her lunch break, checking in on her and wishing her well, and seeing her friend’s concern helped Zelda feel better.

She changed into comfier clothes, an oversized sweater and black leggings, and curled up on the couch with her phone and a mug of tea, wrapped in the fuzziest blanket she owned. The TV played quietly in the background, a cooking show she’d never seen before, but she mostly ignored it, choosing to mindlessly scroll through her phone. 

She was content to do nothing for the rest of the day. She hadn’t taken a sick day in so long that she had forgotten that being sick made it hard to work up the motivation to do anything. Even if she wanted to be productive and do some work from home, she was still exhausted, and rest was the best thing for her body at the moment.

She got tired of the cooking show and put on a movie. It pulled her attention away from her phone. She didn’t look at it again until it buzzed, and when she checked the notification her heart sank. It was from Amazon. 

_ Your package is out for delivery!  _ The message said helpfully.

Zelda stared at the message with a mixture of horror and dread. Of all the days, why today? She had been feeling fine yesterday, why couldn’t the package have come then, or tomorrow once she got over her sickness? Did the goddesses have it out for her? Had she done something to anger them?

She opened the texting app.  _ Midna, I’m screwed. _

_ Wdym _

_ The package is coming today. _

The veritable hailstorm of laughing emojis Midna sent made Zelda want to chuck her phone across the room.  _ AHAHA YOU’RE KIDDING _

Midna was lucky she was at work and not sitting next to Zelda on the couch otherwise Zelda would have whacked her.  _ Don’t laugh! This is terrible! _

_ My bad, i forgot you’re sick lol. Are you just gonna like...not answer the door or smth? _

_ Of course I’m gonna answer it!  _ Zelda responded indignantly. _ I’m just nervous, I don’t normally try to flirt while sick _

_ Nahh you’ll be fine. Just act natural and if you puke on him apologize and offer to wash his clothes _

Something that embarrassing would kill Zelda on the spot.  _ I’M NOT GOING TO PUKE ON HIM!!! _

Midna was quick to respond soothingly.  _ I know i know i was joking. Maybe you can play up the “oh i’m so weak and sick cough cough you’ll have to bring that package inside for me cough cough” act _

Zelda got more flustered thinking about inviting the mailman in and having him see the inside of her house: the pile of tissues haphazardly thrown into the kitchen trash from her seat on the couch; the six different mugs she’d gotten out for tea and soup scattered around the living room and kitchen; the trashy romcom she’d dug out of her hallway closet playing on the TV. That was a worst case scenario.  _ I would rather die than let him see the mess my house has become. _

_ I guess I’ll come to your funeral then, I’ll make sure to only say nice things about you :P _

The doorbell rang as Zelda was typing her reply and she was so startled she nearly dropped her phone. She shot off one more text to Midna— _ That was the door, wish me luck— _ before tossing her phone on the couch and hurrying to the front door. 

She was keenly aware of how she looked. Her sweater had a new stain on it, her hair was a bird’s nest, and her face was still working on getting back to normal coloring.  _ Well,  _ she thought with a sigh, raking her hand through her hair in a last ditch effort to tame it,  _ let’s hope he’s nice enough not to say anything too mean. _

Sure, this was the worst possible timing to see him again, sure the perfect plan she and Midna had concocted was as far away right now as it could possibly be, sure this second impression of her wasn’t going to be the best, but she’d live. The future of her love life did not ride on her flirting while sick.

At least she hoped it didn’t.

Zelda pulled open the front, and the afternoon sun poured in, temporarily blinding her. She blinked quickly to adjust her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her pounding heart.

Standing on her doorstep was the cute delivery guy. He had a small package tucked under his arm and a clipboard in his hand. His black uniform shirt had the top two buttons undone, providing a very enticing peek at his neck and collar. She knew the sudden heat in her cheeks wasn’t from the fever. 

She noticed he was wearing a name tag. Link. That wasn’t a name she heard every day. But it was… quaint.

He stopped humming and flashed her a smile. She offered a weak smile in return. He didn’t seem fazed by her appearance. “Good afternoon, Miss Nohansen,” he said brightly.

Her heart fluttered. Every pick up line she had practiced with Midna went straight out the window and she was left fumbling for words. He had remembered her name? No, of course not, it was written on the package. “Hi.”

He held out the package to her, amusement in his eyes. “Don’t worry, this one isn’t heavy,” he said with a chuckle. 

Heat crept up Zelda’s neck as she took the box. Did that count as an inside joke? “Thanks,” was all she managed. She tried to ignore the curious expression he was giving her and the way his eyes moved up and down her body.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Link started, a note of hesitation in his voice, handing her the clipboard to sign, “are ya feeling alright? You look a little pale.”

She was probably tomato red by now, but she was grateful he was ignoring that. She seized the opportunity to turn her focus elsewhere as she scribbled out her signature. “Oh, just feeling a little under the weather today,” she said. That didn’t sound too pathetic.

He gave her a sympathetic smile when she gave back the clipboard. “Stomach ache?” He asked.

She nodded. “And a bit of a fever,” she added ruefully.

“If you’re into home remedies, try having some ginger ale or tea with honey.” There was that gorgeous smile again. So he was cute and knowledgeable in the ways of home remedies. Nice. She could almost imagine him in an apron, stirring a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. The thought was… strangely appealing. “Works like a charm for me.”

“I’ll have to try that then, thanks.”

“No problem.” He turned to head to his truck and gave her a little wave over his shoulder. “Take care now. Hope ya feel better.”

“Thank you!” Zelda called. That had gone better than expected. Package in hand, she went back inside to find some ginger ale.


	4. puppy love pt.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zelda is dog sitting for Midna, and some troubles arise when she discovers that the dog isn’t too fond of strangers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The obligatory “dog chasing mailman chapter” lol

Zelda watched the large white dog walk aimlessly around her living room, acquainting herself with the place that would be her home for the next two weeks. Everything seemed to pique her curiosity, and she would occasionally stop to sniff spots of the carpet or pieces of furniture she found particularly interesting. The dog seemed fairly well behaved, but it was the first time Zelda had ever had a dog at her house, much less one that looked like it could trample her, and she just wanted to make sure the dog wouldn’t ruin anything within the first five minutes of being inside.

Bored with her inspection of Zelda’s bonsai tree, the dog wandered over to Zelda’s shoe rack and began poking her nose into shoes enthusiastically. Zelda regarded her with a raised brow.

“Does Botan like shoes?” Zelda asked, glancing at Midna as she entered the house again. Midna was carrying bags of Botan’s things in from her car and would disappear out the front door only to come back seconds later with her arms full of toys or food. “She seems to have taken a liking to mine.”

Midna set her latest gathering, two bags of dog food, down next to the rest of the things, brushing her hands off on her pants. “She likes sniffing shoes,” she said with a shrug. “Hylia knows why she does, since they probably don’t smell very good. She’s got a lot of weird little quirks. You get used to it.”

Midna exited the house again. Botan seemed content to poke through Zelda’s shoes, especially interested in a pair of red flats, and Zelda decided to leave her alone. Goddesses knew what would happen if she got in between Botan and the shoes.

A slam of a car door being shut could be heard, then Midna came back in with one final bag and added it to the pile. “Good news,” she said, flopping down on the couch next to Zelda with a huff, “that’s the last of her stuff.”

Zelda eyed the veritable mountain of dog food and assorted toys. “I certainly hope so, goddesses, that looks like enough stuff for three or four dogs.”

“She’s a needy one,” Midna agreed. She smiled fondly and added, “But I love her to death, so it’s all worth it.”

They watched Botan play with the shoe in silence before Midna turned to Zelda.

“Thanks again for doing this,” she said gratefully. “You have no idea how much stress this is off my shoulders.”

“It’s no problem,” Zelda said. “I know you hate using public kennels.”

“I know, but you really didn’t have to take time off from work to take care of my dog for me when I’m the one going on vacation.”

Zelda shrugged. “I needed time off anyway.”

“Still—hey!” Midna’s head snapped to where Botan was enthusiastically pulling more shoes off of the rack. “Botan! Stop!” 

Botan looked up upon hearing her name, and the shoe in her mouth fell to the ground next to the others she’d pulled off. Midna hurriedly put the shoes back and gave Zelda an apologetic look. “Yeah, you’ll have to be careful about that.”

“Duly noted.”

Midna ruffled Botan’s thick fur, bending down to give her one last hug. “Okay, Bo, you be good for Zelda. Don’t destroy any of her stuff or she’ll get really mad at me, and I can’t afford to buy her a new couch. Okay, I could, but it would make my wallet sad, so don’t.” Botan didn’t seem to understand a word Midna said but her tail started wagging intently under her touch.

Zelda’s lips quirked up in amusement. “Do you talk to your dog a lot?” She asked.

Midna chuckled. “It’s not every day I leave my dog for a few weeks. I’m gonna miss her.”

“More than you’ll miss me?”

“You’re different,“ Midna said, grinning, “because I can call you whenever.”

“You’re going to be eight hours ahead of me, Mid,” Zelda said flatly. “You’re not seriously going to call me at 3 in the morning.”

Midna’s expression was contemplative, like she was thinking about it. Zelda glared at her. “Nah, don’t worry. I’m reasonable enough to at least wait until 4.”

Zelda tossed a throw pillow at her, but Midna skillfully caught the pillow and threw it back. “Now, Zelda, I would love to stay here and throw this pillow at you for hours,” she said, “but I have a flight to catch.”

Zelda gave Midna one last hug. “I know. Be safe, okay? Try not to get robbed.”

Midna chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m sure I’m scary enough that they wouldn’t even think about it.” She bent down to embrace Botan once more, then she was gone. 

Zelda turned to Botan, who had laid down by the front door with an unhappy expression. “Okay, girl. We may not be going on a two week cruise like Midna, but we’re gonna have fun, you and me.”

——

The week off from work was a godsend. Zelda didn’t have to worry about project deadlines or writing reports or obnoxious coworkers; she could actually relax and enjoy herself. The first day she had Botan, she spent the day getting accustomed to her. After getting used to Botan’s feeding schedule, the loud noises she made, and the copious amounts of dog hair she was shedding in preparation for summer, Zelda found that she liked having Botan here more than she’d expected. 

Botan was initially intimidating due to her size, but nothing else about her was scary, not even her pointy teeth or the growl she did when she was hungry. She was actually very cute and friendly. Zelda liked her company. It got lonely living alone.

The next two weeks were shaping up to be very smooth until Zelda had company over on the second night of Botan’s stay, her coworker Shad. Shad was one of the only people at her office whose company she could tolerate for more than five minutes. He was also a historian and author, and to celebrate the release of his latest book she’d invited him over.

She’d had a tiny crush on him when she first met him, mainly from his impressive knowledge about Hyrule and the easy way he carried himself, but he’d politely shot her down and explained that he was aromantic. Since then they became good friends, bonding over history and literature, and she was thrilled by his newfound success as an author.

Botan, however, knew nothing about Shad, and the minute he walked in the front door, she looked about ready to kill him.

“Whoa, Bo,” Zelda said, grabbing her by the collar before she could pounce on him. Zelda was used to her intimidating presence, but Shad looked ready to have a heart attack. It didn’t help that she was baring her teeth and growling from deep in her throat.

“I wasn’t aware you had a dog,” he said, eyeing Botan nervously. 

“Sorry about her,” Zelda said sheepishly. “Botan isn’t my dog, I’m watching her for a friend. Big dogs aren’t really my cup of tea.” Her grip on Botan’s collar was tenuous, and she needed to get her in her cage before she lost control of her entirely. She flashed Shad an apologetic look. “Give me just a minute and I’ll go put her in my room.”

“By all means, go ahead.”

Zelda dragged Botan to her room, closing the door behind them to prevent possible escape. Botan’s kennel was by her dresser and when she saw it, she growled.

Zelda sighed. “I’m sorry about this, Bo, I know you hate your kennel but I don’t want you to kill Shad. I need you to be a good girl and get in your kennel while he’s over.”

Botan sat down just outside her kennel, but made no effort to go inside.

“Go in,” Zelda urged. She didn’t budge. There was a certain smugness in her refusal to cooperate that reminded Zelda of a child. “Come on, girl. Get in.”

Again, Botan refused to move. It was irritating. Zelda adopted a more mature tone and pointed to the kennel. “Get in.”

Botan stared back at her in defiance.

“Ugh,” Zelda muttered, digging around for the bag of dog treats, “fine, you win. But only because I don’t want to keep Shad waiting.” She glared at Botan. “I won’t let you off so easily next time.”

She tossed a dog treat into the kennel and Botan followed it in eagerly. Quickly Zelda slipped the latch shut and made sure she wouldn’t be able to get out, then hurried back to the kitchen.

“Sorry about that,” she said, joining Shad at her bar counter. “So, tell me about your book.”

——

“She nearly pounced on Shad,” Zelda said, a hint of last night’s frustration in her voice. It was the morning after, and she was still irritated by Botan’s behavior the previous night, despite the fact that she was acting like a perfect angel now as she laid on the floor of the living room. “You didn’t tell me that she hated strangers so much.”

“I thought I wrote that down for you,” Midna said. On the other side of the phone she was eating dinner, probably at some fancy restaurant near her hotel. “That list of instructions I gave you, wasn’t it on there?”

Said list was sitting on Zelda’s countertop and she quickly retrieved it. Admittedly she hadn’t read it through as deeply as she should have, she’d only skimmed the parts about food and sleep and hadn’t bothered with anything else. She flipped through the pages, scanning the text for anything about hating strangers. In bold letters on the final page, Midna had written  _ Botan will try to attack strangers, so make sure to put her in her kennel before having company over. _

Zelda groaned, prompting an amused chuckle out of Midna. “You didn’t read the instructions all the way through, did you?” She said. Zelda recognized the teasing tone slip in and braced for the worst. “I can’t believe it. Zelda ‘I reread a single sentence of instructions to make sure I’m doing this right’ Nohansen didn’t read my instructions.”

Zelda flushed. “I read all of the important stuff about feeding her and taking care of her, so it’s not like I didn’t read it,” she said defensively. Heavy footsteps caught her attention and Botan padded into the living room, making a beeline for where her food bowl was. “I just… didn’t read the last page.”

Midna snorted. “I’m pretty sure I made a beat with someone in high school about that… hm. I wonder if I can still cash in on a ten year old bet.”

“All jokes aside, though, I’m just glad she didn’t do anything too crazy. That’s the most difficulty I’ve had with her so far.”

“Yeah, she’s a good girl. Hey, put me on speaker, I wanna say hi to her.”

Zelda hit the speaker phone button and put her phone down. “Hey, Bo, your mama wants to talk to you!”

Botan perked up immediately, abandoning her food in a split second to race over the couch. “Hey, girl,” Midna cooed. Botan’s tag began wagging furiously. “Tell me you’ve been good for Zelda.”

Botan let out a few barks for good measure, happy to hear the sound of her owner’s voice. 

“She misses you, in case you couldn’t tell,” Zelda said with a laugh. She quickly scooped up her phone so Botan couldn’t eat it and Botan returned to her breakfast. “I miss you too.”

“Ah, don’t be so sappy,” Midna teased. “You say that like I’m a soldier on my way to war and you’re my lovesick girlfriend. You’re great and all, Zel, but you’re not really my type.”

Zelda rolled her eyes. “If you were here right now I’d slap you.”

“Nevermind, now that I think about it, you’re more like a scorned ex-lover.”

“Well regardless, I still hope you’re having fun. Are you eating some expensive dinner right now?”

“Nope,” Midna said. “Hotel room service. I think the lady said it was some kind of chicken and noodles? I dunno. Tastes good though. Speaking of food, has Botan been eating alright? I don’t mean to sound like a worried mom, but she’s been having some issues lately with eating stuff she shouldn’t.”

Zelda cast a quick glance at Botan, who had finished her food and was lounging at the foot of the tv. “I haven’t noticed anything wrong,” she said. “But if I do I’ll let you know.”

“Great, thanks. And if it’s not too much, could you talk her on a walk too? As long as you’ve got her on a leash she won’t terrorize anyone.”

“Sure. I could use some sunshine too.”

“Thanks. Well, I’ve gotta go, but I’ll call you sometime later, probably tomorrow, dunno. Take care.”

“Bye, Mid.”

Midna hung up and Zelda put her phone away. “Hey, Botan, girl,” she called, getting Botan’s attention, “do you wanna go for a walk?”

——

The weather was a bit warm for Zelda’s liking as she took Botan around the park, with too much sun and not enough of a breeze. She’d decided to walk with Botan to the park, let her play for a little bit but keep a close eye on her in case she tried to maul anyone, then go back home and take a nice long nap. Botan seemed happy to be outside and strolled alongside Zelda with enthusiasm. 

Sure enough, as long as she was on her leash, Botan was a model dog. She didn’t chase any squirrels or growl at any little kids. She followed Zelda obediently and for the most part stayed quiet, content to take in the world around her with a wagging tail and a floppy tongue.

They stayed at the park for an hour before they started heading back, mainly because Zelda was getting tired from constanly pouring her focus into watching Botan. She had to commend Midna for being able to put up with such a high maintenance dog. Personally she’d prefer an animal that was less high strung and more independent.

On the walk home was when things started going downhill. Botan was getting antsy from being around other people and was starting to bark at passerbys, baring her teeth and leaning back on her haunches whenever someone so much as looked at her. She scared the life out of a group of preschoolers and Zelda had to quickly apologize to their teacher and drag Botan away before she took a bite out of a little girl.

“Come on, girl, quit barking at people,” Zelda groaned, leaning down to pet Botan after she almost started a fight with another dog. “Leave them alone, please.”

Surprisingly Botan listened to her, and for the remainder of the walk home she didn’t bark at all. Zelda worried that she’d brought the wrong dog home from the park, but every time she glanced down at the white dog beside her it was always Botan.

When they reached Zelda’s block and her house came into view in the distance, a weight lifted off of her shoulders. She hadn’t had to call Midna or 911 yet, so that was a win in her book, but it would definitely be a while before she took Botan on another walk. Botan would have to get used to her backyard in the mean time.

Zelda’s eyes widened when she noticed a delivery truck parked in front of her neighbor’s driveway. Botan seemed to understand what this meant too, and before Zelda could tighten her grip on her leash, she was bounding away, straight for the truck.

_ Oh, no,  _ Zelda thought, her heart rate speeding up as she took off after Botan,  _ I hope she doesn’t maul the poor delivery person!  _

“Botan!” Zelda yelled, despite knowing her efforts to get Botan’s attention were futile, “come back here! Stop!”

She lost track of Botan for a second and her panic intensified.  _ Oh, goddesses, Midna is going to kill me when she finds out I lost her dog! _

She rushed towards the truck, stopping dead in her tracks when she heard Botan’s distinctive panting. “Hey, there,” a familiar voice said, “are ya lost?”

Zelda froze, wide eyed, when she saw Link bent down next to Botan, stroking her head fondly. Botan barked happily under his touch and eagerly sniffed his hand when he held it out for her. Zelda was taken aback by his apparent ease with her until a wave of relief and exhaustion washed over her.

“Oh, thank Hylia,” Zelda breathed, taking a moment to catch her breath. Wow, she was not in the best shape. She couldn’t even chase after a dog without being winded. “I thought I’d lost her.”

Link looked up, a smile appearing on his face. “Good afternoon to you, Miss Nohansen,” he said politely. “Is she yours?”

Zelda grabbed the end of Botan’s leash while she was occupied with Link and wrapped it around her hand. “I’m watching her for a friend,” she explained. Her face was flushed and not just from the exercise. “We were just headed home from a walk in the park and I guess she was eager to get home because she just took off without a warning.”

Link chuckled. “Yeah, big dogs like her have a lot of energy, that’s for sure. Definitely pretty hard to stop ‘em once they get going.” He withdrew his hand from Botan’s head and stood, grinning down at her when she chased his hand with her nose. “She’s a cutie. I’ll admit, though, she kinda scared me when she came out of nowhere like that. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like big dogs as much as the next guy but wow, they can scare ya when they want to.”

“Tell me about it,” Zelda groaned. “She’s been growling at people all day for whatever reason. She looked like she was going to eat a kid at the park when he tried to pet her.”

Link gave Botan a stern look. “You’re not giving Miss Nohansen a rough time, are ya?” He scolded, his glare melting into a smile when she lolled her tongue at him.

Zelda laughed. “I’m sure it’s just her way of being friendly, but I wish she’d be as nice with other people as she’s being with you. She seems to like you quite a bit.”

“What can I say?” He said with a wink that made her breath catch. “I’m quite the charmer.”

Her cheeks warmed, and she quickly ducked her head, bending down to ruffle Botan’s fur. “Well, sorry for bothering you,” she said after a moment. “I’ll let you go now. Have a nice afternoon.”

He nodded and flashed her one more smile. “You too, Miss. Take care.”

Botan was unhappy to leave her new friend, but Zelda tugged on her leash twice and she slowly followed behind her. 

“Don’t worry, girl,” Zelda whispered, shooting one last glance over her shoulder at Link as he got back into his truck, “I was just as reluctant to leave him as you were.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no i didn’t name midna’s dog after a certain white lion vtuber what are you talking about
> 
> (her name is shishiro botan, check her out on youtube lmao)


	5. puppy love pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting a dog was probably the best thing to ever happen to Zelda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ay apologies for the break, school n stuff n yeah regular updates from here on out

Zelda glanced at the cage in the passenger seat. The little Border Terrier inside was staring out the window with wide eyes, trying to process what was going on. She looked worried and confused, and while she waited for the light to turn green Zelda undid the door of the cage and held out her hand to the puppy.

“Don’t worry, Korone,” she said reassuringly, smiling as Korone tentatively sniffed her hand. The anxiety in her expression calmed down slightly, and Zelda gently patted her head. “We’ll be home soon.”

The decision to get her own dog was honestly a choice Zelda never thought she’d make. Animals in general never seemed to like her that much, and she returned the sentiment. They just made so much noise and such big messes, and she didn’t have enough patience or time for that. Not to mention there was all the hygiene and other assorted maintenance they required that had discouraged her from ever getting a pet. 

But she would be lying if she said dog sitting Botan for two weeks hadn’t changed her perspective. The day Midna got home, Zelda had exercised more self control than she ever had in her life trying not to ask if Botan could stay longer. She had come to enjoy Botan’s company so much that she started looking up information about where to buy a dog, and it had spiraled from there.

So after a visit to her local humane society, Zelda was heading home with little Korone in her passenger seat.

She had plenty of worries, of course. Was she going to feed Korone the wrong food and kill her? Maybe she’d accidentally step on her and seriously injure her. Would Korone get out at night and get lost, or even worse get herself hurt? How would she know if Korone was sick or needed to go to the vet?

_ No,  _ she told herself as she pulled into her garage.  _ You handled Botan perfectly fine, you’ll be alright. _

She took Korone in first, putting her cage on the floor of the living room and opening the door. “I’ll be right back,” she said, “so try not to get into anything.”

Quickly she hurried back out to her car and retrieved the rest of Korone’s things. The worker at the humane society had been very helpful in pointing her in the right direction of supplies, and she was confident in her selection of foods and toys. She put the food away in the pantry and moved to set up the bed.

Korone was sitting in her cage, watching Zelda nervously. When Zelda approached her cage, she shied away.

“It’s okay, girl,” she soothed. “This is your new home. You’re gonna love it here.”

Slowly, Korone stepped out of the cage, and Zelda couldn’t help the surge of happiness that swept over her when Korone started to wander around.

_ We’re gonna be good friends, Korone,  _ she thought with a smile.

——

Korone padded into Zelda’s office and jumped up onto her lap, pulling her attention away from her computer screen momentarily. “Hey, Koro,” Zelda cooed affectionately, scratching under her chin. “How’s my girl?”

Korone let out a soft bark in response, happily wagging her tail. She’d settled into her new home surprisingly quickly. Zelda had worried that it would take months for her to warm up to her new environment, but within days Korone was running around the house like she owned the place. 

Taking care of Korone had taken Zelda some time to get used to. She was easier to take care of than Botan had been in regards to her size; Korone was probably a third of Botan’s size. She ate a lot less, didn’t knock into stuff all the time, and was small enough to comfortably sit on Zelda’s lap or stomach. She was less threatening as well.

Korone was also less energetic than Botan. While Botan had liked playing in Zelda’s admittedly shrimpy backyard or taking walks to the local park, Korone preferred sitting at Zelda’s feet or on her lap while she did other things. She followed Zelda around the house and hopped up on any chair or table she could reach. Her mannerisms were similar to a housecat in that way. 

By the end of her first week at home, she had Zelda wrapped around her tiny paw. The smallest bark or tail wag gave Zelda a heart attack from how adorable she was. Zelda had absolutely no regrets about getting her. 

Korone turned to study the computer, her tail wagging intently as she studied the bright monitor. “Just checking Amazon,” Zelda explained. “Need anything?”

Korone let out a bark in response that probably meant something like  _ I have no idea what Amazon is.  _ Zelda chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right. I probably talk to you too much.”

She turned back to her computer screen, using one hand to scroll through Amazon and the other to pet Korone. It had been a while since she’d ordered anything. She hadn’t seen Link since the run in with Botan. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but that encounter had some distinctly flirty undertones. If she was going to get his number she couldn’t wait forever.

Idly she added a few things here and there to her cart: a few new books, a copy of a new movie she’d enjoyed when she saw it in theaters, and some stuff for Korone. She confirmed her order and leaned back in her chair, scratching behind Korone’s ears.

“Looks like we’re back to waiting, huh, girl?” She asked with a long sigh, smiling when Korone lolled her tongue in response. “Let’s hope it gets here soon.”

——

_ Your package is out for delivery!  _ The notification flashed across Zelda’s phone screen, snatching her attention from her spreadsheet. A thrill of excitement went through her. Her previous two attempts to get Link’s number had failed, but she had another chance today. When she got home from work, she’d do some last minute prep, maybe call Midna for advice, then by the end of the night she’d have a package and hopefully a date. 

With that thought, she powered through the rest of her spreadsheets and paperwork. Her boss popped into her office to let her know that they needed her to attend an all day meeting tomorrow in their place, and even that didn’t kill her mood. She drove through nightmarish rush hour traffic, her head bobbing along to a stupid song from the radio. She didn’t toss her bag onto the couch with a frustrated groan. She was giddy with excitement.

“Hey, Koro!” She called, stepping into the kitchen to grab something to eat. She usually waited to have dinner until later in the evening. “I’m home!”

The house was eerily quiet. Zelda waited for the clattering sound of paws on wood for what felt like an eternity. She’d gotten over her fear of leaving Korone alone during the day after the first week. Korone was fine to stay home alone while Zelda was at work, so she usually came home to find Korone curled up on the couch or on Zelda’s bed, but she came running when Zelda returned. It was odd, and slightly alarming, that she wasn’t responding to Zelda’s call.

“Koro?” Zelda repeated, taking hesitant steps towards her bedroom. It was possible that Korone was asleep on her bed or in her cage. “Korone? Hey, girl? You there?”

Her heart skipped a beat when she didn’t find Korone in her room, or in any other room in the house for that matter. She looked below her desk in the office, behind the shower curtain in the master bathroom, underneath the couches and coffee table in the living room. No dog.

“Korone?” Zelda’s voice rose with each repetition of her name. “Korone? Korone!”

The bright yellow food bowl was mostly empty, so at least Korone had eaten recently. That didn’t do much to settle Zelda’s nerves. She paced around her living room in a panic before remembering she had installed that doggy door in her back door. She didn’t bother with shoes as she bolted out to the backyard.

Her panic only intensified when she was met with an empty lawn. No dog in sight. Sucking in a sharp breath, she hurried around the side of the house. There was that broken slat in the fence she’d been meaning to replace, and it might have been just wide enough for Korone to slip through—

Zelda barely contained a shriek when she spotted a small tuft of fur on the jagged edge of the slat. Oh goddesses, oh goddesses,  _ oh goddesses! _

She unlocked the gate that connected to the front yard and glanced down the street. Korone could have gotten out hours ago, and goddesses knew where she was right now. Zelda could only pray that she hadn’t escaped too long ago.

She hesitated for a second, unsure of whether or not to go back inside and get her phone to call Midna or if she should start going to her neighbors and seeing if they knew where Korone was. Every second she spent waffling on her decision was another second Korone would be getting farther away, hopelessly lost with no one to protect her. The thought filled Zelda with an icy cold dread.

_ So this is how I die,  _ she thought, tears starting to spill down her cheeks.  _ Heart attack after my dog goes missing. _

She brushed away the waterfall of tears, miserably trudging back into her house after locking the gate. Midna would know what to do, but in the distressed state she was in Zelda didn’t even know if she’d be comprehensible. She fumbled awkwardly with her phone, her fingers shaking too badly to press the right buttons, until a ring at the doorbell interrupted her.

_ Oh, goddesses take me now.  _ That had to be her package.

Momentarily forgetting about calling Midna, Zelda tried to straighten herself up the best she could. She was still in her work clothes, a pale blue button up and black pencil skirt, but the sudden onslaught of emotions had left streaky lines down her cheeks and beads of sweat were still appearing on her forehead and neck. 

_ Screw that,  _ she told herself, wiping away a few rebellious tears.  _ Forget about the stupid mailman—you probably didn’t have a chance with him anyway. Your precious dog just ran away and it doesn’t look like she’s coming back. You’re allowed to look like a wreck. _

She took a deep breath to silence the sob building up in the back of her throat and pulled the door open, prepared to bring her thrilling mailman chase to a close.

What Zelda didn’t expect was to see in Link’s arms was a small, barking bundle of fur, ears flopped at the sides of her head and tail wagging enthusiastically.

“Afternoon, Miss Nohansen,” he said with a smile. “I believe this cutie here’s yours?”

Zelda almost fainted. The disbelief of having Korone right there when Zelda had been preparing herself to never see her again, mixed with the shock of seeing her comfortable in Link’s arms, was a bit too much to handle. With possibly the largest exhale anyone on the face of Hyrule had ever let out, Zelda sagged against the door frame, a wave of relief washing over her.

“Oh my goddesses,” she said breathlessly, accepting Korone when Link held her out. Korone’s familiar weight was a beacon of happiness, piercing the thick despair that had accumulated inside of her. Korone licked her wet cheek and all Zelda could do was hug her tighter. “I was just about ready to call rescue services, how in Hylia’s name did you find her?”

Link rubbed the back of his neck, shrugging sheepishly. “I’d say it was more that she found me. I was delivering something to the red house a few houses down and she came up behind me while I was heading back to my truck and refused to leave, no matter how hard I tried to shoo her away. I looked down at her collar, recognized your address, and immediately came over here with her.”

Korone looked up at Zelda with such innocent eyes that Zelda forgot about the heart attack she nearly had. She was so happy to have her precious Korone back.

“Is there anything I can do to repay you?” She asked, glancing back at Link.

He blushed. “Oh, no, no, I couldn’t accept anything,” he said, looking away as the pink on his cheeks spread to the tips of his ears. “I’m just glad she’s back where she belongs.”

“Please,” she insisted. “Anything.”

He hesitated, as if internally debating something, then shook his head firmly. “All I ask is that you have a good night with her.”

She sighed. “Alright. I think I can manage that.”

“Then you have a good evening.” He gave a small wave and turned to leave, then paused. “Oh, wait, that’s right, I do have a package for you.” He flashed her a sheepish grin. “Let me go get that for you.”

He retreated back to his truck and returned with a package and clipboard. Zelda set Korone down at her feet, keeping one eye on her while she signed the form.

“Thank you again, so much,” she said as she passed back the clipboard. “I don’t know what I would have done if she’d gone missing.”

Link smiled again. “It was no trouble, Miss.” He bent down to give Korone an affectionate ruffle under her chin. “Try not to give your ma so much trouble, ya hear?”

Korone barked happily as they watched him return to his truck and drive away.

Zelda closed the front door and set the package on the coffee table, flopping onto the couch with a heavy sigh. Korone jumped up onto the couch and settled atop her stomach.

“I don’t know what I would have done if you’d gotten away, girl,” Zelda said quietly, tears once again threatening to burst out. Korone sobered, placing her head between her paws so her head was leveled with Zelda’s. “But once again, our mailman is here to save the day. What would we do without him?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and ofc i named zeldas dog after another vtuber. inugami korone can have all my yubis
> 
> anyway thanks for reading, see ya next week :D


	6. add to (heart) cart redux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haha, what if I... ran into you with my cart at the grocery store.... haha just kidding...
> 
> Unless?

Zelda opened the fridge door, praying that the goddesses would take pity on the long day she’d had at work and miraculously make some food appear. She was in no mood to cook anything tonight, nor did she feel like pulling open a fast food restaurant’s homepage to order delivery, but the jet engine noises coming from her rumbling stomach demanded appeasement.

Sadly, she was met with a virtually empty fridge. She winced. It hadn’t been that long since she’d gone to the grocery store last, right? Apparently so, because she was down to a quarter of a gallon of milk, a handful of yogurt cups, a small bag of wilted vegetables, and various bottles of condiments that had probably only been opened once. There wasn’t a single easily reheatable takeout carton in sight.

She checked the pantry too, and was met with an equally depressing sight. Empty boxes with colorful labels sat on the shelves, the occasional collapsed plastic bag strewn in. Geez, how had she gone through so many snack foods in such a short period of time? She wasn’t home nearly enough to justify all this snacking, and she’d made sure after getting Korone that it was out of Korone’s reach to keep her from getting into it.

With an exaggerated sigh, she got a scrap of paper and a pen and sat at the kitchen table to brainstorm what she needed. Korone hopped onto the chair next to her and watched her with a curious expression.

“Let’s see,” Zelda said, tapping the pen against her chin. “I think we’re all set on dog food, since I have plenty out in the garage. But the fridge and pantry are looking a little sad, so I’ll need to restock them. Looks like I’m gonna be spending tonight at Malo Mart.”

She quickly scribbled her usual grocery list onto the paper, then got a little carried away thinking about what to add to her pantry, making the list about twice as long as it really should have been. She looked at the finished list with a flat stare.

“I’ll be back in an hour or so, Koro,” she said, giving Korone an affectionate ruffle behind her ears. “Be a good girl while I’m gone, okay? I promise to bring back some treats for you.”

Korone barked twice, and satisfied with that answer, Zelda threw on a hoodie and scooped up her purse, then got in her car and drove the fifteen minutes to her local Malo Mart. 

The store was quiet when she stepped through the front doors and collected a cart. Aside from a few bored looking employees at the registers and a few people perusing the aisles, it seemed pretty lifeless. Faint music played in the store’s speakers, and the muted conversations amongst shoppers filled the air with a soft buzz.

Zelda had a moment of panic when she realized that she’d left her shopping list at home. By now, Korone had probably gotten to it and mangled it. She held in a long sigh and tried to remember what she needed. She decided she’d start with the necessities, then go from there.

She pushed her cart along without much thought. Malo Mart’s layout was as familiar to her as the back of her hand by now, since she’d been shopping here for over three years now. Her mind drifted to other things while she walked down the canned foods aisle, and she found herself thinking about a recent date invitation she’d gotten from one of Midna’s acquaintances, whom Zelda had met at a small gathering Midna had hosted. 

The guy seemed nice, maybe a bit on the eager side for her tastes, and she was still deciding if she wanted to say yes. He offered to pay, so that was a plus, but she had some doubts still. For one, she wasn’t sure her schedule would allow it, and for two, she was quite smitten with her mailman. 

She hadn’t seen Link since the incident with Korone, but his simple act of kindness in worrying about Korone had really touched her. Her efforts to forget about her silly crush on him had all failed, and as time went on, she caught herself wanting to know more about him. Like if he thought she was weird for ordering so many puzzles, or if he thought she was a complete and total disaster from the few times they’d interacted. 

Zelda turned down another aisle, the snack food aisle, her eyes focused on scanning the product-stuffed shelves. Despite the long list she’d made earlier, nothing looked appealing anymore, and she passed by most items without a second glance. She got so caught up looking at items that she didn’t notice where she was going and her cart ran right into someone.

“Oh my god,” she started, quickly backing away, “I’m so sorry—“

She froze when she locked gazes with a familiar set of blue eyes.

Link looked so different than she was used to that she might not have recognized him if she’d just walked by. Gone was the black uniform; in its place, he wore a dark green hoodie with the logo of some outdoorsy company across the front and a pair of fading jeans. Instead of tumbling down the sides of his face like a golden waterfall, his hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and a pair of black glasses sat on the bridge of his nose. A shopping basket sat on the ground next to him.

She gaped, unsure of what she was seeing. She’d never considered that she might see him in places other than her doorstep, yet here he was, and _holy_ _Hylia since when was he allowed to look so attractive?_

She swallowed. No amount of training in Hyrule could have prepared her for the awkwardness that was running into the guy she was just thinking about at the grocery store. “Hi. Um, good evening.” She winced. “Sorry for bumping into you, I should have been paying more attention.”

“No harm done, Miss,” he said lightly, the corners of his mouth tugging into a small smile. She couldn’t help casting a quick glance down at where her cart had smacked into his side. He would likely get a nasty bruise, but of course he had to be sweet and pretend it was nothing. “To be honest I wasn’t paying much attention, either,” he added with a chuckle. He gestured to the items on the shelves in front of him. “These cracker boxes are actually kinda interesting.”

They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. Zelda knew that this was the perfect change to ask for his number, but she didn’t want to be creepy asking for it outright. She needed to be smooth.

“Um,” she started, seizing a smidgen of courage before it flew away, “thanks again for helping me last week, with my dog. I mean, if you hadn’t swooped in and found her, the anxiety might have killed me, and for that, I’m very grateful.”

Link flashed her an easy smile. “Like I said, it wasn’t any hassle,” he said. “I’m happy that I was able to help.”

She breathed deeply to calm her pounding heart and continued. “I still feel guilty that I didn’t repay you.”

He shrugged, a light dusting of pink settling over his features as he met her gaze. Under the store’s fluorescent lights, she could see a faint twinkle in his eyes. “Seeing your face light up when you saw her was reward enough.”

The sentence took a second to register in her brain. Oh. 

Oh, goddesses.

Her eyes went wide and a flood of warmth raced up to her cheeks. Why was the world spinning so suddenly? He… he was just teasing her, right? Of course he hadn’t meant that...

“That’s… sweet of you,” she managed to say, barely able to hear the words over the thumping of her heart. She fixed her gaze on the contents of her cart to avoid having to meet his eyes, painfully aware that the second she looked up she would turn into a puddle of jelly. Goddesses, her legs were shaking so badly! She was a grown woman, for Hylia’s sake! Why were her emotions so out of control?

_ Ask for his number!  _ A voice in the back of her head insisted.  _ Anyone with two eyes could see that he’s flirting with you! Seven, simple numbers, girl. Do it. _

“I’ll let you get back to your shopping,” Link said, hefting his basket. “Take care.”

“Wait!” The words came out a little more forcefully than Zelda had intended, but it was too late to take them back now. 

He paused, his full attention turned on her. Now or never.

She sucked in a breath, her hand unconsciously gripping the handlebar of her cart tighter, and fumbled to get her phone out of her pocket. “Can I get your number?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh cliffhanger. I’m mean.
> 
> About that rating may change tag, I’m still very undecided if I’m going to follow through with that and add more mature content. Not making any promises, but also not completely shutting down the idea. Guess we’ll just wait and see.
> 
> Thank you for reading :D


	7. the way i feel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So how does the mailman feel?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha a day late, uh my excuse is work and also had to rewrite it a few times but here it is

“Can I get your number?”

If Link had been holding on to his shopping basket any looser, he probably would have dropped it.

——

Link checked the address on the brown package one last time, looking up at the house he was currently parked in front of. A swirl of anxiety still fluttered inside his chest, a product of the last package he’d delivered. Even though the lady at the first house had been kind about him getting the address wrong, he still felt so… awkward apologizing for bothering her.

_ It’s alright,  _ he told himself, scooping up the package in one hand and digging around for the clipboard with the other.  _ You’ve been staring at this address for five minutes now. They are 100% the exact same numbers. _

He forced down any lingering doubts as he strolled up to the front door. The very obvious no-solicitation sign hanging by the door almost made him turn around and leave without delivering the package. Whoever lived here would likely be pretty pissed off if he showed up only to have completely misread the address.

He took a deep breath and rang the bell before he could chicken out. Was it too early to quit this job?

A few seconds passed in tense silence. His hand hesitated, hovering over the doorbell, and he decided one more ring wouldn’t do any harm. 

He stepped away from the door and studied the front of the house while he waited, whistling a light tune to himself. Space had been cleared out in front of the house for a flowerbed, though the ground there was decidedly empty. Pansies would look nice in the space, he thought with a small grin, or maybe some bright tulips. Maybe he could try lightening the mood by asking the owner about their plans for the flowerbed.

Link checked his clipboard one last time to be 1000% certain this was the right house, then felt his heart nearly beat out of his chest when the front door opened. 

Standing in the entryway was not the cranky older person he had been expecting, but a tall woman in a short-sleeved purple and white dress. The modest neckline and above knee hem complemented her body well, . Her long brunette hair was pulled back with strands left to frame her face, and touches of light makeup around her eyes and lips made him do a double take. This woman hadn’t been just sitting around her house like this, had she? 

Because  _ wow _ . 

Quickly he remembered his manners and flashed her a smile, trying to mask the nervousness he was feeling. She looked like business, and if he was bothering her he had a feeling he might end up on a dark web hit list. The way she was scrutinizing him from head to toe with those piercing violet eyes definitely wasn’t helping his anxiety.

“Hi,” the woman started crisply, taking in his black uniform and the box in his hand. He caught a glimpse of her shaking her right hand at her side. Some sort of nervous tic, maybe? “How can I help you?”

He glanced down at his clipboard. “I’ve got a package here for a Miss Nohansen?” He said. Moment of truth. Would this very beautiful but very intimidating lady call for his instant termination?

“Yes, that’s me,” she said, nodding slightly.

Link could feel the weight lifting off his shoulders. “Awesome,” he said, the relief in his voice poorly disguised. “For a second I was worried I’d gone to the wrong house again. First day on the job, y’know how it is.”

She accepted the package from him, and she must have expected the box to be lighter than it was because her passive expression quickly shifted into surprise when the heavy package began to slip from her hands.

“Whoa there,” he said with a forced chuckle, quickly helping her get a better grasp on the box. “Careful now. It’s heavier than it looks.”

“You could have told me that  _ before  _ you handed it to me,” the woman said dryly, the corner of her mouth curling into a smirk. Goddesses, he almost had a heart attack hearing the annoyance in her voice before he realized she was just pulling his leg. 

He was growing more flustered by the minute, so he passed her the clipboard while he tried to come up with a reply. “Got distracted,” was what he settled with. “It ain’t everyday someone gets all dolled up just for little ol’ me.”

The words were out of his mouth before he could really stop them, but he winced.  _ Way to go there, idiot,  _ he thought, glancing away in a moment of panic and praying that she didn’t notice the pink tinge he knew was gracing his cheeks.  _ Flirting with a customer because you’re too nervous to say anything else. Real professional.  _

Absently he started whistling again and took to drumming his free hand against his leg. He felt the woman’s eyes settle on him for a moment and he fixed his smile. She passed him back the clipboard without another word, so he took that as his cue to leave now before he said something else ridiculous.

He cleared his throat. “Well, you have a nice day now,” he said, barely hearing the words over the roar of his heart in his ears, and turned to leave.

“Thank you,” she called as he quickly made for the truck.

Once inside, he turned the air conditioner on to full blast, hoping that the cold air would blow away the heat in his face, and leaned back against the headrest.

That had just happened. If he had known he would deliver a package to the goddess Hylia herself, he probably wouldn’t have applied at H.U.P.S. Few things had the ability to make him as nervous as strangers did, but throw attractive and intimidating into the mix and his bucket was as good as kicked.

Ok so maybe he was overreacting a tad. The woman hadn’t really been that scary; that was just the anxiety talking. She seemed pretty nice, and had a sharp sense of humor to boot. Maybe if he could get to know her a little better, he could replace his anxiety with comfort.

For now, though, he simply pulled away from her house and drove off, shifting his focus back to his work. Mysterious Miss Nohansen would just have to wait for her next delivery.

——

Try as Link might, he really couldn’t push her from his head. Whenever he looked at his route for the day or checked the addresses on brown boxes, he always hoped that he would have an excuse to drop by her house again. Every box or address that wasn’t hers pulled a sigh of disappointment from him. He really needed to stop worrying so much about it. She’d probably been weirded out by him so much that she didn’t want him to come back anyway.

Imagine his surprise when his route led him to her subdivision and down her street to park in front of her driveway. He was covering the route for someone who’d called in sick that morning, so it was only by a stroke of generosity from the goddesses that he was here. He hefted the package with her name on it and stepped up to her front door.

Miss Nohansen appeared in the doorway, looking under the weather in her oversized sweater. Her cheeks had lost some of their color and her hair was tangled and frizzy, not to mention he could see exhaustion written over her body, from the tired droop of her eyelids to the sag of her shoulders. 

His heart sped up. Seeing her this time felt much more personal than last time, and he didn’t feel any worry, just concern for her health. He wanted to tell her to go back inside and lay down and that he’d take care of the package for her and he’d even make a pot of soup for her if that was what she wanted.

He didn’t do that, though, opting to flash her a warm smile. “Good afternoon, Miss Nohansen,” he said.

“Hi,” she replied. Her voice was sleepy and thick like she’d just woken up from a nap. 

He offered the package out to her, then tried for a joke and added, “Don’t worry, this one isn’t heavy.”

A flicker of amusement played across her face as she accepted the box. “Thanks.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” he started hesitantly, unsure if it was really polite to ask or not, “are ya feeling alright? You look a little pale.”

He almost smacked himself with the clipboard for being so blunt. If she wasn’t feeling well of course she didn’t want a reminder!  _ Stupid! _

She took the clipboard and began to write out her signature. “Oh,” she said, shrugging like it was nothing, “just feeling a little under the weather today.”

_ She’s awfully nonchalant about it,  _ he thought with a note of admiration. He was quite the baby when he got sick, but here she was powering through it like it was nothing.

“Stomach ache?” He asked.

She nodded, a rueful smile on her lips as she handed back the clipboard. “And a bit of a fever.”

“If you’re into home remedies, try having some ginger ale or tea with honey,” he suggested. “Works like a charm for me.”

She looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’ll have to try that then, thanks.”

“No problem.” He gave her one last smile before turning to head back to his truck. “Take care now. Hope ya feel better.”

“Thank you,” she called, her voice soft but warm, echoing in his head for the rest of the day.

——

The sun beat down on Link as he opened the back of the truck. His route today had taken him to Miss Nohansen’s neighborhood, so tantalizingly close to her house, but there was no package addressed to her in the truck today. Instead he was delivering an especially large box to the house a few doors down.

He pulled the dolley out and climbed up into the back, looking around for the right package. If he had to wager a guess as to what was inside the box, he’d say either some type of small furniture or a ridiculous amount of clothes, although, why people bought clothes online was beyond him. He thought it was kinda dumb to buy expensive clothes if you couldn’t try them on first.

He found the box in question and hefted it onto the dolley, being painstakingly careful not to smash his fingers under the weight of the box. Goddesses, it was heavy. It was times like this he wished he had someone else with him to help him get the box out without hurting himself.

Box on the dolley, Link wheeled it up to the front door and waited. The older gentleman with fiery red hair that answered the door quickly scribbled his name onto the clipboard, then to Link’s utter astonishment, bent down and  _ picked up _ the 50 pound box without batting an eye. 

_ Remind me to never underestimate old people,  _ Link thought, shaking his head as he wheeled the dolley back to the truck. He put the dolley in and closed the back, then loud footsteps caught his attention and he turned just in time to be nearly bowled over by a large white dog.

“Whoa!” He exclaimed, trying to stay upright. The dog jumped up, placing its paws on his legs. After letting it sniff his hand, it calmed down enough to return its paws to the ground, leaving behind two grassy prints on his thighs.

“Hey there,” he said, stroking its head, “are ya lost?”

More footsteps made Link look up from the white dog as none other than Miss Nohansen ran up to them, panting and flushed. He had to do his best not to stare at her neon leggings and how they conformed perfectly to the shape of her legs.

_ Quit being a creep! _ He chided. 

“Oh, thank Hylia,” she breathed, hands on her hips as she caught her breath. “I thought I lost her.”

“Good afternoon to you, Miss Nohansen,” he said, giving her a small smile. “Is she yours?”

She quickly scooped up the end of the dog’s leash and wrapped it around her hand, likely worried that the dog would zip away again. “I’m watching her for a friend. We were just headed home from the park and I guess she was eager to get home because she just took off without a warning.”

Link chuckled. “Yeah, big dogs like her have a lot of energy, that’s for sure,” he agreed. The dog was eagerly seeking out his hand, butting her nose into his palm insistently, and he obliged her willingly. “Definitely pretty hard to stop ‘em once they get going. She’s a cutie. I’ll admit, though, she kinda scared me when she came out of nowhere like that. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like big dogs as much as the next guy but wow, they can scare ya when they want to.”

Miss Nohansen let out a rather adorable groan. “Tell me about it,” she said. “She’s been growling at people all day for whatever reason. She looked like she was going to eat a kid at the park when he tried to pet her.”

He looked down at the dog and tried to give her a hard stare, but ended up with a huge dorky grin instead when the dog lolled her tongue at him. “You’re not giving Miss Nohansen a rough time, are ya?”

“I’m sure it’s just her way of being friendly,” Miss Nohansen said with a laugh, “but I wish she’d be as nice with other people as she’s being with you.” Her head cocked to the side and she raised an eyebrow. “She seems to like you quite a lot.”

He winked. “What can I say? I’m quite the charmer.”

_ There you go again, running your stupid mouth,  _ he thought with a wince as Miss Nohansen bent down to run her hand through the dog’s fur.

“Well, sorry for bothering you,” she said. “I’ll let you go now. Have a nice afternoon.”

“You too, Miss,” he said, flashing her a smile. “Take care.”

He watched them walk off while he hopped back into his truck, and he wished they could have talked for hours.

——

A sense of giddiness swept over Link as he drove down the street. Another day of covering someone else’s route and he ended up with Miss Nohansen’s address on his list. He probably shouldn’t be feeling so excited to see her, but he couldn’t help it. He hadn’t seen her since the incident with her friend’s dog, which was almost a month ago. 

He pulled up to the first house on the street, a red one-story house with a blooming flower bed in the front, and found the right package, a small box the size of a cereal box. He tucked it under his arm, grabbed his clipboard, and went to knock on the door.

The young boy who answered the door couldn’t have been more than four or five, and he looked at the package like it was a treasure chest. The boy’s mother appeared behind him and took the package, promising her son that she would let him open the box while she signed the paper.

On his way back to the truck, Link heard a quiet jingling noise at his feet. He looked down and saw a small brown dog looking back up at him. 

_ Wow, this neighborhood sure is fond of dogs,  _ he thought, bending down to pet the puppy. It barked happily up at him.

“Do you live around here?” He asked it, though he didn’t think the dog would respond in a way he could understand. “I’ve never seen you before, and I drive down here a lot.”

The dog barked, sniffing his proffered hand eagerly and licking his fingers. 

He played with the dog for another minute before deciding he needed to get back to work. “Go ahead and run home,” he instructed, standing up. “I’ve gotta go.”

He took two steps towards his truck and the dog followed behind. 

“Go on now,” he repeated. “Go home.”

Still the dog refused to leave him. He sighed and bent down, reasoning that he should probably figure out who owned the dog and return it before it snuck onto his truck and ended up at the mail facility.

“You probably don’t belong to the family in the red house,” he muttered, thinking out loud. “Hm. If you got out without your owner knowing, you’re gonna worry ‘em sick. So let’s take a look at your collar.”

The purple collar had a golden tag that read “Korone” on the front, with an address and phone number on the back. His eyes widened as he recognized Miss Nohansen’s address. 

“Well now, that’s a surprise,” he chuckled. “Alrighty, Korone, how about we get you home? You’re lucky I’m on my way over there right now.”

Gently Link lifted Korone up and took her back to the truck, setting her down next to his seat. She looked nervous in the new surroundings but sat obediently as the car moved down the street.

She was much happier getting out of the car than getting in and licked his cheek when he carried her up to Miss Nohansen’s front door. He knocked twice and waited.

Miss Nohansen opened the door almost immediately, a look of panic in her eyes that was a sharp contrast from her classy pantsuit. A few water streaks dripped down her cheeks, drops splattering onto her button-up shirt. 

“Afternoon, Miss Nohansen,” he greeted, trying to soothe her with a soft smile. “I believe this cutie here’s yours?”

Miss Nohansen slumped against the doorway, letting out a sigh of relief. The worry etched into her features washed away and was replaced with an almost serene smile. 

“Oh my goddesses,” she breathed, and he took that as his cue to hand Korone over to her. Korone was obviously happy to see her and licked her cheek, replacing the tears with slobber. “I was just about ready to call rescue services, how in Hylia’s name did you find her?”

“I’d say it was more that she found me,” he said with a sheepish chuckle. “I was delivering something to the red house a few houses down and she came up behind me while I was heading back to my truck and refused to leave, no matter how hard I tried to shoo her away. I looked down at her collar, recognized your address, and immediately came over here with her.”

Miss Nohansen shared a look with Korone, rubbing her sleeve on her cheek before glancing back at Link. “Is there anything I can do to repay you?” She asked.

He blushed. “Oh, no, no I couldn’t accept anything,” he said quickly.  _ I mean, I could go for your number, but…  _ “I’m just glad she’s back where she belongs.”

“Please,” Miss Nohansen repeated. “Anything.”

Her insistence made him seriously pause and consider asking for her number, but he shook his head firmly, pushing the thought from his mind. “All I ask is that you have a good night with her,” he said finally.

“Alright,” she conceded. “I think I can manage that.”

“Then you have a good evening.” He waved and turned to leave, then remembered her package in his truck. He’d completely forgotten in the heat of the moment. “Oh, wait, that’s right. I do have a pacakge for you. Let me go get that for you.”

He retrieved her box and had her sign the form, his gaze drifting down to her neat handwriting. Her looping letters were much nicer than his own choppy script.

“Thank you again, so much,” Miss Nohansen said. “I don’t know what I would have done if she’d gone missing.”

He ducked his head as he took the clipboard, hoping his embarrassment wasn’t too obvious. “It was no trouble, Miss.” He leaned down and scratched under Korone’s chin, debating if he should stall and try to get a few more seconds of conversation out of Miss Nohansen. “Try not to give your ma so much trouble, ya hear?” He told Korone, who barked in response.

He walked back to his truck and drove off with a strange, but not unwelcome, warmth in his chest.

——

Miss Nohansen stared at him expectantly, her grip on her phone turning her knuckles white. The question hung in the air between them, and Link tried several times to come up with a response. “Absolutely!” was too desperate, “Why not” sounded childish, and “No” was definitely the wrong answer.

He finally managed to swallow and reply, “Yeah, uh, sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see ya next week :D as always thanks for reading!


	8. let’s go from here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Numbers exchanged, how do Zelda and Link go about asking each other out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When it takes getting covid to finally post another chapter lmao
> 
> Jokes aside I’m sorry for suddenly disappearing lol. Hope you enjoy this, and thank you so much for the kudos and comments! Next chapter won’t take a month to come out, I promise.
> 
> Rating bumped up for some inneundo.

Zelda hit the backspace button, deleting yet another text in her efforts to write something suitable to send to Link. She was curled up on her bed with Korone at her side, wrapped up in a sweater and blankets while the TV played in the background. She’d put away all of her groceries the moment she got home, too occupied with her thoughts to focus on making dinner, and had flopped onto her bed to work up the courage to text Link.

So far, she was having little success. She would start typing, only to shake her head and delete the text. 

_ Hey, it’s Zelda, wanna go get coffee sometime?  _ She typed, drumming her fingers against the back of her phone before deleting the words. Goddesses, she was absolutely hopeless! What happened to flirty, confident Adult Zelda? She felt like she’d been transported back into awkward, shy Teenage Zelda’s body, who’d had so much trouble with texting first that she didn’t go on her first date until senior year. It had taken a long time for her to learn how to work around her anxiety.

Any thoughts of calling Midna and begging for her help were completely out of the picture. First off, Zelda was not so dependent on her that she needed her help with anything related to romance, and second off, Midna would likely laugh at her for being so ridiculous more than she would actually help.

So no Midna. Zelda let out a long sigh and shot a longing glance at Korone. “Too bad you can’t help me, girl,” she said. “I bet you would give great advice.”

Korone barked in something close to agreement, then returned to swatting the loose strings of the blanket. Zelda sighed again and turned back to her phone.

_ Hey, it’s Zelda,  _ she started. That seemed like a solid introduction. Casual, but not too comfortable. The hard part was what followed.

_ Would you like to get lunch with me sometime?  _ Goddesses, no. That was so stiff.  _ Do you wanna go out for coffee this Saturday?  _ Did he even like coffee?  _ Do you want to go out with me?  _ Of course he did, or he wouldn’t have given her his number!

With a frustrated groan, Zelda decided on  _ Hey, it’s Zelda, are you interested in getting lunch with me this Saturday?  _ And hit send, then tossed her phone onto her nightstand and pushed her worries out of her mind.

Except that they refused to budge. Everything from worries that she typed in the wrong number to anxiety over the specific phrasing of her text and if it came off as creepy or desperate. She rarely had this problem when texting other people, even her boss or coworkers. But she’d already sent the text, and there was no taking it back.

She chewed on her lower lip while she watched the cop show playing on the TV. It was a week day, so she probably should go to bed and get a decent night’s sleep. She reached for the remote and turned off the TV, since she hadn’t been paying much attention to it anyway, then got up to turn off the lights and send Korone to bed when her phone buzzed.

She almost dove for her phone, but apprehension and nervousness filled her. Now she really felt like Teenage Zelda again, too worried about rejection to look at her phone. She recalled the first time she’d ever asked someone out and felt a strong sense of deja vu. She was more than happy she’d gotten over that.

Oh goddesses. One new message. From Link.

Zelda swallowed hard. The lump in her throat traveled down and settled in her stomach. Hesitantly she tapped on the notification and the messaging app opened up. 

_ Saturday works for me,  _ Link responded. _ Know any good places? _

She let out a sigh of relief so loud that Korone jumped and she had to quickly soothe the frazzled puppy. Then she let out a girlish squeal and collapsed onto her bed. 

A flurry of emotions rolled over her. An excitement she hadn’t felt in a long time filled her. The goddesses were surely smiling down on her today. She was actually going on a date with the guy she’d had a crush on for months! She didn’t know whether to cry from happiness or scream into her pillow or spam Midna with far too many texts about how excited she was.

For now she remembered she needed to respond back and thought about the best places to go for a first date. There was a particularly tasty sandwich shop near her work that would be a good location; it was neither trashy and dumpy nor ridiculously expensive, and the atmosphere was casual and relaxing.

_ Have you ever been to Loafer’s before?  _ She asked.  _ It’s a sub sandwich shop on the corner of Second Main and Faron Street. _

_ Nope, but it sounds good. Does 12:30 work for you? _

_ Sounds great! I’ll see you then. _

_ Awesome! Looking forward to it :) _

She fought back another squeal and switched to messaging Midna.  _ Guess who just got a date with mailboy? ;) _

Midna’s response was near immediate.  _ OH MY GODDESSES GIRL I’LL BE OVER IN TEN MINUTES!!! _

——

Zelda pulled open the door to let in Midna, who immediately grabbed her in a crushing hug. Midna was deceptively strong and Zelda had the air knocked out of her lungs. “I’m so happy for you!” She exclaimed, sounding like a proud mother. “Look at you, being courageous and getting a date!”

“Thanks,” Zelda wheezed. “Goddess, Midna, I need to breathe!”

Midna released her with a sheepish grin and Zelda took a moment to catch her breath, collapsing onto the couch. “I can’t help being excited for you,” Midna said, plopping down beside her and slinging her arm over Zelda’s shoulders. “The last time you asked someone out was probably back in high school.”

Zelda rolled her eyes. “I get it, I get it, I’m a hermit with no love life, you don’t have to remind me. You’re probably more excited for this date than I am.”

Midna raised an eyebrow. “Whatever. You should see yourself in the mirror, Zel, you’ve got the most ridiculous dopey expression on your face. You look like a kid who just found out his parents bought him a puppy.” As if on cue, Korone padded into the room and hopped up onto Midna, who began to coo at her and ruffle her fur.

Zelda blushed. “I mean, I am really excited. He seems like a nice guy, and if things work out on Saturday, who knows? We might see more of each other.”

“First comes love,” Midna teased, “then comes marriage-“

“Midna!”

Midna burst into cackles. “What? No baby in a baby carriage?”

Zelda’s cheeks burned. She didn’t miss the implications of Midna’s words, and as much as she wouldn’t mind, she didn’t really need to entertain that train of thought. “I barely know anything about him aside from his name and job, and you’re already planning the wedding!”

Midna gave her a devilish smirk. “And the honeymoon,” she added with a wink.

Zelda buried her face into a throw pillow. “Remind me to never talk to you about my dating life ever again,” she groaned.”

“What are best friends for? Anyway, where are you guys going?”

“Promise not to stalk us?”

Midna feigned indignance. “I can’t believe you think I would stalk you!” She huffed. “It might have crossed my mind very briefly but I can assure you that I won’t interfere with your date in any way.”

Zelda wasn’t sure how sincere that promise was, given the look on Midna’s face, but she caved. “Loafer’s, the sandwich shop by my office.”

“An excellent choice,” Midna said, nodding. “Plenty of vegetarian and vegan options if that’s his thing, and it’s right by that smoothie place. I’m sensing a very successful date in your future.”

Zelda smiled. “Let’s hope so.”

—

Link stared long and hard at his phone screen, at a complete loss for words as he tried to figure out what to say to Zelda. He’d been thinking about how to ask her out since they exchanged numbers at Malo Mart, and his luck was running out.

His head dropped to the table’s surface and he let out a long sigh. “Why am I so bad at this?” He mumbled.

“So bad at what?” Ashei asked, looking up from her laptop. After being her housemate for a few months, he already knew she was probably playing solitaire instead of working on her paper that was due next week. Even masters students had their bad habits.

“Texting people.”

She gave him a flat look. “You say that like you think I’m any better.”

“Do you stare at your phone for half an hour trying to type one sentence?”

“...what?” She looked at him like he was a lunatic. ”I thought you were just making faces because you were reading something raunchy.”

Warmth flooded his cheeks and he buried his face in his hands. “No, why would you think that?!”

She shrugged. “I was just putting two and two together.”

“No, I’m texting a girl. Or at least, trying to text her…”

“And it’s taken you half an hour to write a single sentence?” Ashei asked flatly. “No offense, but that’s a little sad.”

Her bluntness made Link wince. “I know, I know, it’s stupid. I just don’t know what to say.”

“Pass me your phone. I’ll text this mystery girl for you.” She reached for his phone before he could hide it and ignored his protests to give it back. 

She studied it before it buzzed in her hands. “Ah, nevermind. Looks like she texted you first. ‘Hey, it’s Zelda, are you interested in getting lunch with me this Saturday?’”

She passed his phone back and he took it, eyes widening when he saw that yes, Zelda had texted him first. A storm of anxiety flooded his chest, making his fingertips tremble. 

Ashei watched him open and close his mouth and struggle with the keyboard before she sighed and grabbed his phone again. He didn’t protest, too relieved this time to put up a fight. “Sweet Din,” she grumbled, “you really are bad at this. What do you want me to say?”

Link swallowed. “Yes, I am very much interested in going out with her and Saturday sounds great.”

She nodded and typed for a moment, then showed him the message.  _ Saturday works for me. Know any good places? _

“Wow,” he said, shaking his head. The message was so concise and simple, but it was exactly what he would have said. “You’re good at this, Ashei.”

She hit the send button with a shrug. “Nah, you’re just overthinking this too much. Relax, take a breather. I’m sure she won’t hate you forever if you misspell a word or use the wrong smiley face. Oh, she responded again.” She passed the phone back to him. “She suggested Loafer’s, huh? I’ve been there before, they’ve got some good beef skewers.”

He tried to take Ashei’s advice and took a deep breath before responding to Zelda’s text. Ashei watched with a hint of approval in her expression before turning back to her laptop. 

_ Nope, but it sounds good!  _ He replied.  _ Does 12:30 work for you? _

_ Sounds great! I’ll see you then. _

_ Awesome! Looking forward to it :) _

Link set his phone down with a triumphant smile. He could hardly believe his luck; after months of squeaking by on any chance he could get to see her, he had her number and they were going to go out together. 

“Judging by the stupid grin on your face I’m guessing you’re happy?” Ashei said with a smirk. “Congrats. Have fun on your date.”

He returned the grin. “I’m gonna have the time of my life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooooooooooooooh it’s happening folks!
> 
> As always thanks for reading!


	9. epilogue: wrapped in a bow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's one last package to deliver...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha i'm alive
> 
> enjoy the ridiculously self indulgent ending to this fic and thank you so much to everyone who has left kudos and comments! <3

Zelda’s phone buzzed and she glanced away from her computer, reaching for her phone. Her brain had checked out from work long ago since it was Friday and any distraction she could get from reports was a welcome relief.

 _Hey lovely,_ Link texted, adding an abundance of smiley face emojis in typical Link fashion, _is it ok if I swing by later?_

 _Of course,_ she responded, smiling to herself. Even after two years of dating he was still afraid to show up uninvited. _You know you don’t have to ask permission._

She could picture his embarrassed chuckle on the other side of the screen. _Alrighty then,_ he said _. What time do you get home?_

 _I’ll be home by 6 most likely._ She didn’t add that there was a slim chance she would need to stay longer to finish some things, but with her newfound motivation to see her boyfriend, she doubted it would take long. 

_Okay, I’ll see you at 6:30 then? I’ll bring dinner too._

Her stomach rumbled at the thought of his cooking. _Sounds great! See you then babe <3 _

_Love you!!! See you then <3 _

She put away her phone with a smile and turned back to her computer, filled with determination.

——

Zelda kicked off her shoes and put away her purse, happy to be home and excited to see Link. He’d been promoted a few months ago and had started doing long distance deliveries out of the city that took him away for weeks at a time, so she relished any chance they had to spend time together. They hadn’t spent an evening together in a while, and they had plenty of catching up to do.

She changed into something comfy but cute and set about making her house presentable, Korone following at her heels and offering moral support with the adorable wag of her tail. Although Link wouldn’t care if there were papers on the kitchen table or dog toys on the living room floor, she wanted to do something that didn’t involve staring at the clock and counting down the minutes like a weirdo.

She finished wiping off the kitchen table and glanced at the clock. 6:24. Link would be here any minute. After tossing the used rag in the laundry room, she dug through her fridge for a bottle of wine and put it on the kitchen island along with two cups. With any luck he’d be able to stay for the weekend, and the thought made her feel giggly. She would never admit to rifling through the box of clothes he kept at her house and wearing his shirts to bed, but she had missed him so much. 

Zelda checked her appearance one last time in the mirror when the doorbell rang. Korone raced to the front door with an enthusiastic bark and Zelda followed, unable to keep the beaming smile off her face.

Link stood on her doorstep, wearing his H.U.P.S. uniform, his hands behind his back. “Good evening,” he said with a wink, and her heart melted. She had to resist the overwhelming urge to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him senseless. “I’ve got a package here for Miss Nohansen?”

He held out his hand, a tiny box no bigger than his palm sitting in his hand. She paused, staring at the box curiously. It was tiny and definitely didn’t look like typical packages she received, not to mention she hadn’t ordered anything in months and Link didn’t make as many house deliveries since his promotion...

Her eyes widened when he got down on one knee and opened the box, revealing the ring inside.

_Oh._

“Zelda,” Link started, raising his gaze to meet hers as she fought back the flood of tears filling her eyes, “when I first moved to Castle Town, I didn’t think much of it. I was moving here to work and to have a chance to see a bigger world than the one I grew up in. I didn’t know that it would lead me to this street, to you, but I’m so glad that it did. These past two years have been the happiest of my life, Zelda, and waking up every morning is a little easier when I think about you. I don’t deserve to have you in my life, but I’m going to ask anyway…”

He took a deep breath, and she did everything in her power not to break down and start sobbing. He was proposing to her, oh _goddesses he was proposing to her--_

“Will you marry me?”

Zelda let her tears fall freely and knelt down, throwing her arms around Link and burying her face in the crook of his neck. “Yes, Link,” she cried, “goddesses, yes.”

——

The sun poured through the shades and pulled Zelda from the best night’s sleep she’d ever had. She blinked, yawning sleepily, and rubbed the drowsiness from her eyes. Cool metal brushed her cheek and she pulled her hand away to study the ring adorning her left hand with a soft smile. 

The golden band glittered in the sunlight like liquid sunshine, and the three diamonds inlaid in its surface refracted a constellation of light across the walls. Her body tingled as she stared at it, her smile growing wider until her cheeks hurt. 

She still couldn’t believe it. They were engaged now. They were going to get _married_. A life of happiness and wonder waited for them, and she couldn’t wait for it to begin.

Beside her, Link dozed, his quiet exhales filling the room. His hair was a knotted mess and there was a trail of red marks running down his neck and chest that mirrored her body, but he looked absolutely perfect. She couldn’t resist brushing away the hair from his forehead to place a gentle kiss on his skin. He stirred, mumbling as he came to, and sat up with a loud yawn. In the morning light his blue eyes were so bright and beautiful.

“Good morning, babe,” Zelda said, slipping her arms around his waist and kissing his cheek. 

“Morning, my lovely fiancée,” he replied with a smile, returning the embrace. Her heart fluttered upon hearing the word fiancée. It would definitely take some time to get accustomed to hearing that, but she doubted she would mind all that much. “Sleep okay?”

She nodded. “Probably the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had, although I am a little sore…”

His eyes widened as he noticed the marks on her body, pink blossoming across his face. “In my defense,” he said shyly, rubbing his neck, “I did miss you a lot.”

She laughed and kissed him, reveling in the feel of his smile against her lips. He pulled her closer until she was sitting in his lap, and they stayed in each other’s arms for a while, sharing kisses and giggles as the sun rose through the window. This was heaven, she decided, and she wasn’t leaving anytime soon.

At least until her stomach growled loudly, completely ruining the moment. Link pulled back, grinning at her. “If you don’t wanna kiss me, just say so,” he teased. “You don’t have to hide behind your empty stomach.”

She huffed, and he gave her one last kiss before scooting off the edge of the bed.

“I’ll go get some breakfast started,” he yawned. “What do you want?”

“You.”

He rolled his eyes and tugged on his pants. She noted with interest that his shirt was abandoned on the floor. He wouldn’t mind if she borrowed it. “Pancakes, then. I assume you didn’t move all of your food and stuff around while I was gone?”

“Everything should still be where it was last time you were here.”

He nodded and flashed her a smile before disappearing to the kitchen. She swiped his shirt off the floor and pulled it on, taking a deep breath of the distinctly Link scent before going to join him in the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i might write more of this au but who knows, my brain is unpredictable to say the least. i'm just proud to say that this is my first completed multi chapter fic on this site.
> 
> thank you again for reading, and i hope you stay safe!

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah i have no idea where this came from. It just hit me out of the blue and well, here we are. I’m hoping to update this weekly, but we’ll see.
> 
> Also this is my first time putting art in a fic so if there’s formatting issues or you can’t see the art, please let me know so I can fix it!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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